This one is for me, place to muse, share ideas and interesting images.
As I drank my tea sitting in the lovely early morning sunlight on the disheveled autumnal front garden the light was so beautiful that I decided to take our my pastels and sketch. Trying to be free and pastels are a great help with that, I love using them.
There is a value in keeping a painting you think is finished hanging around the studio where you can see it because it will talk to you sometimes screaming until you pickup a brush and correct the offending area. This painting was such a one. It didn’t look right and had a sort of empty space in the middle. I had tried to keep the area with the golden marjoram in the centre clear but just ended up with a hole so I decided to extend the white umbels using oil pastels instead of paint. I won’t work on it again however loud it tries to make itself heard I have had enough it.
Oil on Block canvas 80x80cm
This last couple of weeks I have started painting again. It all dried up during the stress of the covid outbreak with all its accompaniments leaving my studio littered with several unfinished works. I have now reduced that to one which is very large. This painting of part of our garden was the first to be attacked and now after several sessions seems to be finished. Summer Garden, oil on cotton box canvas 80x80cm.
I am horrified that I have not posted here since October 2020. It has been such a stressful time that I seem to have gone into a state of hibernation but now I want to wake up from the nightmare and start living again. I have had my first dose of vaccine and looking forward to warmer days when I can start gardening and painting again. During the long dark days of winter we had to take comfort from small things like new Christmas lights and, this year, a real Christmas tree all delivered, like everything else via the internet. Here are a few of those happy pictures.
My daughter has a tattoo studio called Love The Rock Studio with a small gallery on the ground floor. She organised an exhibition entitled “The Heart” of it”. A plaster heart was sent out to all entrants with a return label and a brief to decorate or alter it in any way they chose and return it to the gallery. The resulting exhibition is a wonderful kaleidoscope of talent and here are some examples. the exhibition can be viewed in its entirety at instagram.com/sltr_the_heart_of_it/(opens in a new tab)
On a whim this morning I decided to sand and repaint a little side table I use every day. It was in need of a quick freshen up as it had began to look like something Paddington bear has been using. Easy little job, just sand it, clean it off then apply a fresh coat of chalk paint. Obstacle number 1 the chalk paint has gone hard. Having got the bit between my teeth I decided to use emulsion. Obstacle number 2, enter the large tin that has not been opened for couple of years. Then ensued a battle that many of you DIYers out there will be familiar with, getting the tin open. Having tried unsuccessfully for 15 minutes to prize it off I resorted to giving it a gentle bash on the floor which I did with caution as in the past I have had the lid come off and the tin vomit its content all over the floor. Still no movement.
As an artist I often have to deal with stuck lids and a quick emersion in hot water usually works so I decided to try this. I boiled water lay the tin in the sink on its side and poured the water round the rim then I turned the tin Poured more hot water over it upright and began to prize the lid off. The tin had a more spectacular show in mind and explosively blew the lid off sending it across the kitchen splashing the paint collected in the rim all over me, the floor, my hob and units. Jackson would have been delighted!
Well hello 2020, so far Australia seems to be on fire, south Africa in the grip of drought and famine, Jakarta is flooded, Harry and Megan have resigned and we are told by those who are really paying attention (unfortunately not the ones who should be) that we have ten years to get our act together or we are doomed to fry drown or starve before the end of the century if not before.
In the light of all that I thought I would share some of the good things that have happened for me last year starting with my lovely Garden.
I’ve just realised that I never got round to posting the finished version of this painting so here it is.
I live in Elmer, by the sea, and sometimes I forget what a lovely place it is to be especially when harsh salt winds blow in to scorch my garden plants, but this beautiful September morning I took a walk to see the progress on the improvements being made to our sea defences. There are some lovely old Groynes washed by the sea but as I suspect some of them will disappear under more rocks I decided to do a photo sweep before that happens. I won’t say any more but let the images speak for themselves.
Another of my harlequin paintings. I guess we all know the feeling of having to juggle too many tasks and this work is a playful representation of that feeling. Alkyd oils on linen canvas 80x80cm
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